I was never that impressed with the previous gretsches myself, just didn't have the woodsy bark i was looking for.

There are still people that love the old pod 2.0 models, it's all opinion.

feature wise 1.9, doesn't have alot less, if you ended up staying there most of what you'd miss out on is the new workbench...

i think workbench is going to get alot more use now that it's left it's "word perfect" ancient GUI.

i bet you'll be able to address alot of your concerns and ultimately be swayed to 2.0 with some tweaking in workbench...

but just in case... i've reflashed in a couple of instances when i didn't think things were right...

and things got right.... so a reflash is ALWAYS worth a try IMO.

So far, I'm disappointed with V2.0. There were only 5 models/modes of the older firmware that I liked enough to use: Spank positions 2 & 4, Lester position 1, Jangle 2 (12 String electric) and the Coral Sitar. With V2, the Spanks have changed radically, I absolutely do not like new sounds and the Lester seems to have lost some of its "bite". I cannot hear a difference with Jangle 2 or the Sitar. The Tele sounds are an improvement over what was there before, but still not a contemporary Telecaster sound. The RBilly models still do not sound anything like a Gretsch (I own 4 Gretsches, I know what they are supposed to sound like). I already assumed that the acoustic models would be the same crappy models already released, and I was right. I can't use them for anything, anyway.

The WB is a big improvement, and the output level issue is at last controllable (one of my big beefs with the JTV removed). The WB UI is great, however their are bugs - for instance, have any of you tried to open the Preset Folder (in the "File" menu)? I get an error message on my MacBook (OSX Mountain Lion). Maybe the Windows version works.

The new models should work with any device that has the VDI interface. The Variax is powered by the VDI connection and produces the guitar model sounds that it sends to the device via VDI. From there, the device (XT Live, X3 Live, Pod HDxxx) processes the incoming guitar signal as usual.

The Spank model, for intence, has lost pretty much all its quacky, sparly high end
I'm posting some audio samples of before and after the update. Each audio clip start with a sound pre-update, and the after
Is anyone else noticing something similar?

Sounds like they modeled a completely different guitar; a more modern sounding single coil type actually. Maybe, they modeled the single coils on the JTV69 (sorry, I couldn't resist).

My variax update crashed. lost all variable guitar settings, and reflash has not helped. Now it shows no connection through USB port. Suggestions?

Well.. not sure what happened. But I took the battery out for a while, put it back in, and when I plugged it back together everything worked. For a while all I had was the default guitar (which honestly does not sound bad on the model 59 through a marshall) . The 2.0 did crash on the driver update, followed by a computer crash.. re-installed okay now. I think I just picked really bad timing to get the guitar. a week either direction might have saved me a panic attack.

Just downloaded the v2.0 firmware and I can notice definite improvement in many of the models. It all sounds very good and muting is excellent too. Had to charge my battery first which made me try to be patient before I could hear the new firmware in action . Workbench HD looks great too, by the way.

I have to ditto what ddell and others have noted about this being a definite improvement, thanks Line 6! The new workbench inspired me to make my first custom guitars too. Took the 89 bridge pickup and set it up on the Lester, strat, tele, firebird, and special bodies. Gotta say the firebird body with the 89 bridge does it for me. What a blast!

Quick question to you folks - on the Strat and other models that some of you feel have been "compromised" versus the previous versions, how are you listening to them?

Are you pulling up patches that you had used previously with the old models and listening to the result, or are you just plugging into an amp of some type and having a play?

The responses are expectedly all over the map - I understand that - but some of them have me wondering how we're all listening to these new guitars. They are all different enough that you will absolutely have to completely recraft your sounds. The hope is that you'll be happier at the end.

I agree with Sean. I really like the new models, but I only play at home and don't save patches. I always create a sound from scratch, and to me the models sound a lot more distinct. I'm really impressed, and I actually really like the new strats. Relatively low in output and sparkly, just as I'd expect one to be.

ok sean, then we must change our old patches in pod, but what kind of changes should be made to settle in to new sounds? More treble, less bass? More gain? Etc , thanks

Quick question to you folks - on the Strat and other models that some of you feel have been "compromised" versus the previous versions, how are you listening to them?

Are you pulling up patches that you had used previously with the old models and listening to the result, or are you just plugging into an amp of some type and having a play?

The responses are expectedly all over the map - I understand that - but some of them have me wondering how we're all listening to these new guitars. They are all different enough that you will absolutely have to completely recraft your sounds. The hope is that you'll be happier at the end.

Spent some time again today testing the new update - re-flashed and re-installed everything:

- still have to get used to the new Strat-patches. And the problem with the 'position 2' patch is still there:
in WB both mid and bridge pu's are shown as 'on' - but the bridge pu is silent. When it is turned off and on again, the 'quack' sound is there - but patch can't be saved to the Variax - when switching to another patch and back to 'position 2' patch, bridge pu is silent again, although WB shows it as 'on' ..???

Another bug:
when using the 'neutral' body , the B-string lacks all treble - no matter what pu is chosen. Sounds really bad, almost like a palm-muted string. All other strings have normal treble ..???

Spent some time again today testing the new update - re-flashed and re-installed everything:

- still have to get used to the new Strat-patches. And the problem with the 'position 4' patch is still there:
in WB both mid and bridge pu's are shown as 'on' - but the bridge pu is silent. When it is turned off and on again, the 'quack' sound is there - but patch can't be saved to the Variax - when switching to another patch and back to 'position 4' patch, bridge pu is silent again, although WB shows it as 'on' ..???

Another bug:
when using the 'neutral' body , the B-string lacks all treble - no matter what pu is chosen. Sounds really bad, almost like a palm-muted string. All other strings have normal treble ..???

Maybe just my experience, but i found the 2.0 instruments to be all a bit quieter, thus not hitting the front of amp as hard. Likely doesn't fix the Spank issue some are having, but definitely required pushing my volumes up (I had not touched my gains yet). Wife let me play for four uninterrupted hours yesterday, so something is working (Line 6 voodoo).

I was actually able to get most of the "old" strat model working, by "blending" more of the mag pickups (of my JTV-69) into the stock models, so , yes, I am happier with the strat models now. Try the blending function - not sure if this will add anything on the JTV-59 or -89 though!

To me the greatest thing about the new Workbench is the ability to adjust string balance PER PRESET, and not just globally as before. As I complained several times in the Variax forums, I had huge headaches with the old WB trying to find a global string balance setting that would work well for the 5 or 6 models that I use a lot. (I should mention that I play fingerstyle, mostly clean w/o a lot of gain/distortion; I think string imbalance issues are a lot less noticeable with the gain piled on.)

Anyway, having said that, I notice that the new models are generally better balanced string-to-string than the old models. I find myself having to make fewer string balance adjustments per model than I expected. A good case in point is the new Tele bridge: with the old one the D string was howling loud; if I turned it down in WB then it was way too quiet in other models. The new Tele bridge model is fine with no tweaking. And a lot of the new models sound OK with the global sb set to 100% for all 6 strings.

For those of you having MIDI time out issues make sure your volume isn't at zero and that you have a charged battery. I got a time out error when attempting to upgrade through my HD500 but resolved it by turning up the volume, plugging in my battery and using the Workbench USB interface to upgrade. Not sure what change I did got it to work but it worked.

I play the Teles, Strats, and Les Pauls 90% of the time. My quick review since upgrading...

1) Love the new Workbench format. Slow to sync, but so much better experience to edit. Hate how it doesn't work yet with the POD HD500.

2) The new Telecasters sound amazing. Love the new Wide Range pickup option in positions 2 and 4. Never used the previous 2 and 4 Tele models...they sucked.

3) Like the new Les Paul models a lot. A little brighter and crisper.

4) Hate the new Strat models. The bell chimey thing has all but disappeared in positions 2 and 4. This fact alone will cause me downgrade to 1.9! Don't want to lose the new T-Models and Lesters, but that's the compromise I guess.

5) Like the new 89 pickup options, but wish they had a lot more grit. I've got a Les Paul Classic and was hoping those new pickups would replicate a more hot, mid-rangey sounding Les.

Me too, my 59 is a chunk of firewood right now. Keep getting error code that says my MIDI port has been timed out???? Can't do anything through Monkey or download from file without the same error.........WTF Line 6

Chuckewheat

I was able to get mine working again. Basically this is what I needed to do..

1:Remove the battery. Wait a few seconds. Replace.

2:Hang a 1/4" Cord from the output jack.

3:Turn on (push the tuning knob, guitar should light up)

3:Plug in USB adapter/cord. At this point there should be green lights at both ends of the "converter" thing.

4:At this point it is ready to try again.

5: With everything now working, I made sure to backup the originals in the HD workbench.

When I re-started it was available to do the update a 2nd time, and all the sounds came back in. Fired up the monkey, updated

and I was good to go. It was also during this period that I discovered the guitars native sound was.. Really kinda nice!

I play the Teles, Strats, and Les Pauls 90% of the time. My quick review since upgrading...

1) Love the new Workbench format. Slow to sync, but so much better experience to edit. Hate how it doesn't work yet with the POD HD500.

2) The new Telecasters sound amazing. Love the new Wide Range pickup option in positions 2 and 4. Never used the previous 2 and 4 Tele models...they sucked.

3) Like the new Les Paul models a lot. A little brighter and crisper.

4) Hate the new Strat models. The bell chimey thing has all but disappeared in positions 2 and 4. This fact alone will cause me downgrade to 1.9! Don't want to lose the new T-Models and Lesters, but that's the compromise I guess.

5) Like the new 89 pickup options, but wish they had a lot more grit. I've got a Les Paul Classic and was hoping those new pickups would replicate a more hot, mid-rangey sounding Les.

Finally had a chance to have a few hours playing the new models. I think they're a huge improvement over the old ones, especially the Tele, Dan-O & Les Paul. Fuller-sounding, more responsive to pick attack and volume control changes, and overall more realistic. I LOVE the per-preset string balance control. Finally!

My only complaints:

1) Line 6, please hurry up with the HD500/Workbench compatibility! Since a lot of the new models sound quite different from the old ones, I'm having to change the tone settings for most of my Pod presets = a lot of time on battery power = a lot of recharging time.

2) Something's not right with the Spank position 2 (bridge+middle). One of the presets in the Custom 1 postion has this same model and it sounds quacky enough, but the one in Spank 2 sounds completely different. I changed the pup on/off switching in WB so the correct pups are activated (they were set wrong in the original setup) but it still sounds like a completely different guitar with 0% quack. I also tried to copy & paste the one in Custom 1 into Spank 2 position but no difference. . .

3) The acoustic models are too sensitive to string buzz. I hear an annoying fret rattle on my low E - on all frets - in all 3 acoustic models whereas there's no trace of it unamplified or in any of the electric models, no matter how hard I hit it. I use a fairly high action with 11-49 strings.

4) The models in Custom 2 position that are supposed to be in alt tunings are not, they're just standard tuning. I realize I can make up whatever I want in WB, but has anyone else noticed this?